The Slow Agonizing Death Of Christianity

By James Donahue

In my younger days I was programmed to believe that it was necessary to spend every Sunday morning in church. I resisted this intrusion on my life for a long time, but once I gave into it, I poured myself into the church, devoting my life to it.

My wife and I joined a fundamental Bible church. We attended services not only on Sunday morning but also on Sunday nights and went to prayer meetings on Wednesday night. I personally got involved in a calling ministry, going door-to-door on Thursday nights.

I taught Sunday school, drove a church bus, served as director of youth programs, was a member of the Board of Deacons, was church treasurer, and even worked as religion writer for the newspaper where I was employed. I was so wrapped up in Christianity I attended college level classes offered through the Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music. I got to know the enemy on a personal basis.

I became so close to church operations and the politics of Christian theology it did not take me long to uncover the incredible hypocrisy and wickedness occurring just under the cover of the religious blanket that covers the things most people are allowed to see.

I stumbled upon sexual perversion, greed, demagoguery and self-styled demigods. The deeper I studied the more disparity I found among the many variations of Christianity and within the Holy Bible, the book that supposedly held it all together. That book is filled with verses that are not only in conflict with each other, but in many cases, just don’t make sense. It is small wonder that the Christian church is crumbling as humanity evolves both mentally and spiritually beyond its need for it.

In spite of my resolve to serve God, every church this family entered seemed to disintegrate within weeks after we arrived. One pastor left his family and ran off with a woman in the church. Another resigned after he lost his temper and beat his wife. A third pastor resigned after his unmarried teenage daughter became pregnant.  We saw churches split their membership over disagreements in theological issues. There seemed to be a tempest ever seething in the shadows of every church we tried. We eventually decided that the forces that control the Universe were trying to tell us something.

It should be no surprise that eventually my family and I turned away from Christianity altogether. We have never regretted our decision. I have since concluded that Christianity, like the other great world religions, has outlived its purpose. It evolved from the ancient Persian worship of the sun-god Mithra which was still around during the height of the Roman Empire and when Jesus walked the land.

It was Paul that declared Jesus a deity after Christ was murdered for political reasons. And it was the Emperor Constantine who advanced the cause of Christianity by turning from Mithraism and making it the official religion throughout Europe.

The very existence of Christianity has brought more pain and suffering to the world than the followers of that religion would like to admit

Ironically, the Christians in the United States perceive the Islamic Moslems as a dangerous and deadly threat. While there are radical extremist sects within the Moslem faith that are raising havoc throughout the world, they don’t hold a candle to the mass slaughtering and harsh law-making imposed by extremist fundamental Christians over the years. The ugliness in that religion continues to this day.

Christians in America are behind the extreme anti-abortion movement, the harsh drug war, the overcrowded prisons, prisoner executions, the anti-gay movement, and most social morality rules governing how we live. The Christians brought about the imposition, the slaughter and persecution of the Native Americans in both North and South American continents and the witch trials in Europe and New England. Extreme Christian right-wing beliefs are operating secretly behind much of the turmoil occurring in Washington even today.

The power of the church, however, appears to at last be waning.

While Christian churches are still operating, some of them still packed with worshipers each week, there is a noticeable absence of young people in those pews. The youth are rejecting the old spiritual belief systems and seeking alternative pathways. There is clear evidence that as the old generations die off, they will be taking Christianity with them.

While most Christian churches are caught up in sexual perversion, the revelations involving pedophile priests within the Roman Catholic Church has been making the most waves. That church, reeling from world-wide sex-abuse scandals, is now losing members in droves. The Vatican is reporting major losses in its vast wealth. The National Catholic Reporter recently said the church is suffering its “largest institutional crisis in centuries, possibly in church history.”

On November 3, the Irish government announced that it would close its embassy to the Vatican. The decision was described as a cost-cutting measure in the wake of extreme financial problems faced by the nation, Irish officials said.